Before the bell: AA, RTP, BHP, F, GM, XOM, INTC ...

Posted Feb 1st 2008 8:34AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Apple Inc (AAPL), Time Warner (TWX), Intel (INTC), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Walt Disney (DIS), Alcoa Inc (AA), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Rio Tinto plc ADS (RIO)

Before the bell: Futures higher on Microsoft-Yahoo! news

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, partnered up to buy a 12% stake in miner Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) for some $14 billion at around a 21% premium to Thursday's closing price. This "strategic stake" puts them in the middle of a battle for control over the miner, which has been in play since late 2007, when rival BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) proposed a takeover through a three-for-one share swap. RTP shares are up nearly 12% and BHP shares are up around 10% in premarket trading. AA shares are also up 3% in premarket action.

Automakers, including Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are set to report January sales today. Overall, analysts expect a 3% decline for the month. General Motor's light vehicle sales are expected to rise 2-4 % in January, versus a year ago. Ford's sales are expected to decline 8-10% percent from a year ago.

Before the bell, earnings are due from Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), the nation's No. 1 oil company and largest company by market value. For the current quarter, analysts expect $1.95 per share, compared to $1.69 in the same quarter a year ago. For the full year, they expect $7.12 per share, up from $6.55 in 2006.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) was upgraded at Oppenheimer from Perform to Outperform.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) unveiled a high-speed memory chip Friday that they said was five times faster than conventional NAND flash memory chips.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) shares are up over 6% in premarket trading, probably affected by Microsoft's bid for Yahoo! as many tech and media companies likely will be.

Could Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone sales get a boost from porn as the "companies plan to loosen control on their networks to allow a wider variety of gadgets and services?" According to Reuters, the adult entertainment industry would like Americans to have a choice of free porn on cell phones, where it is apparently more prevalent in Europe.

Tags: aa, aapl, bhp, dis, f, gm, intc, inthenews, rtp, twx, xom